U-PASS approved for Summer Semester

This last summer session brought about the consolidation of classes to the Downtown Milwaukee Campus.This year, MATC students will be allowed to obtain a U-Pass to attend classes for the summer.

"The idea (to approve the U-Pass) really came up last year when the college decided to consolidate all the campuses," said Archie Graham, Director of Student Life.

Graham stated, "There was a preliminary discussion about accessing and getting students to the Downtown campus so they [an ad-hoc committee] talked about it in terms of if it would help students out in feeling comfortable since the other campuses were going to be non-operational and if the U-Pass would be a good tool available."

"A lot of students that come to our college come by bus and when you don't have the summer U-Pass, the students have to buy bus tickets," said George Baker, Student Government President for the Downtown Milwaukee Campus.

Baker continued, "Some of our students are low income, so going back and forth (the bus costs $2.25 per ride) is not fiscally possible."

Baker said, "Since we (the students) are paying tuition every fall and spring, and the U-Pass comes out of that, we (the Student Government) decided that we wanted a summer U-Pass so our summer students can basically ride the bus to school."

Details on the summer U-Pass are still being worked out, but Graham is aiming to have them available as soon as the end of May and having students use them until mid-August, although most classes will end at the end of July.

Baker believes that the summer U-Pass may overlap with the U-Pass that students are already using for the spring. Students taking at least three credits this summer will be eligible for the U-Pass, which can be picked up in S201 at the Downtown Milwaukee Campus.

Graham also advises that students come to the summer orientation session at the college, where representatives for the Milwaukee County Transit System will be present.